Saturday, May 25, 2019

FACEBOOK’S ANNOUNCED “COMMUNITY STANDARDS” - CHURCH'S AND MINISTER'S PAGES MAY SOON CEASE TO EXIST




May 23, 2019, 1:24pm – Rev. Mario Gonzalez Jr., Esq.

Announced Orwellian Censorship by Facebook against Churches holding to an official traditional Biblical worldview of marriage, sexuality, sexual orientation and gender identity and THEIR LEADERS (Meaning the private pages of ministers on the platform). It is critical to note that COMMUNICATION AND/OR PROMOTION of the proscribed ideology IS NOT NECESSARY. According to the text of the policy standards, you simply need HOLD TO THE VIEW to be guilty of the Facebook delineated “Thought crime”.

The following COMMUNITY STANDARDS were JUST RECEIVED FROM FACEBOOK, May 23, 2019 [Relevant sections]. Below are direct quotations (word-for-word) from the message we just received from Facebook this morning:

2. DANGEROUS INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS…
We do not allow the following people (living or deceased) or groups to maintain a presence (for example, have an account, Page, Group) on our platform:

Hate organizations and their leaders and prominent members

        A hate organization is defined as:

Any association of three or more people that is organized under a name, sign, or symbol and that HAS AN IDEOLOGY, STATEMENTS, or physical actions that attack individuals based on characteristics, including race, religious affiliation, nationality, ethnicity, gender, sex, sexual orientation, serious disease or disability.

…Tier 2 attacks, which target a person or group of people who share any of the above-listed characteristics, where attack is defined as,

        Statements of inferiority or an image implying a person’s or a Group’s physical, mental, or MORAL DEFICIENCY.” 

      More than ever before the Church of Jesus Christ needs to unite in prayer. This is becoming quite the Daniel moment.








EQUALITY ACT “HORROR” HIGHLIGHTS



PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS INCLUDES THE CHURCH.

On May 17, the U. S. House of Representatives passed the Equality Act by a vote of 236-173, including multiple Republican Defections. We are now in SERIOUS DANGER of this proposal actually becoming law and devastating hard earned religious freedom in this country.

HOW WOULD A CHURCH NOT BE CONSIDERED A PLACE OF “GATHERING”?

Here are the facts: Section 3 of the newly proposed “Equlity Act” (“EA”) addresses “Public Accommodations” and directly proposes to change 42 U.S. Code §20001 which establishes Federal Prohibitions against discrimination or segregation in places of public accommodation.

The Equality Act proposes the following changes to Federal Law:

In Subsection (a), the statute presently reads,

PRESENT LAW: “(a) Equal access. All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.”

EA changes it to read as follows (altered sections are in caps not used in proposed law):

PROPOSED CHANGE (EA): “(a) Equal access. All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, SEX (INCLUDING SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY) or national origin.”

The 42 U.S. Code §20001 then goes on to define the places affected by the law, or where the law would be applicable [only relevant portion is referenced below].

PRESENT LAW: (b) Establishments affecting interstate commerce or supported in their activities by State action as places of public accommodation; lodgings; facilities principally engaged in selling food for consumption on the premises; gasoline stations; places of exhibition or entertainment; other covered establishments. Each of the following establishments which serves the public is a place of public accommodation within the meaning of this subchapter if its operations affect commerce, or if discrimination or segregation by it is supported by State action:

(3) any motion picture house, theater, concert hall, sports arena, stadium or other place of exhibition or entertainment;”

PROPOSED CHANGE (EA), only addresses the Subsection (3) above by changing it to NOW read:

“(3) any motion picture house, theater, concert hall, sports arena, stadium or other place of OR ESTABLISHMENT THAT PROVIDES EXHIBITION, ENTERTAINMENT, RECREATION, EXERCISE, AMUSEMENT, GATHERING, OR DISPLAY;”

EA specifically targets “youth service providers” as places of “public accommodation” where LGBT people cannot be discriminated against in term of their full and unencumbered participation. Pursuant to State v. S.B. (N.J., 2017), a case involving an Assemblies of God Church in New Jersey, the Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey determined churches to fall under the category of “youth service providers”. Should EA become law, it can be successfully argued that a church may not discriminate in terms of being required to allow transgendered people to fully participate in the church’s ministries and other functions, specifically in any of its youth programs.

STATE LAWS ARE EMASCULATED: The act expressly invokes the 14th Amendment making it applicable to every state as well as to private actors within that state. The Equality Act states –

“Federal courts have widely recognized that, in enacting the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Congress validly invoked its powers under the Fourteenth Amendment to provide a full range of remedies in response to persistent, widespread, and pervasive discrimination by BOTH PRIVATE AND GOVERNMENT ACTORS.”

It also invokes Commerce Clause violations when referring to any manner of discrimination against an LGBT person. This would allow it to supersede and infringe on State sovereignty by disallowing any defense to a EA law violation based on contrary State law.

ALL RELIGIOUS PROTECTIONS ARE ELIMINATED: The EA specifically disallows any legal protection based on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. This new proposed law GUARANTEES that people will not be allowed to claim an exception based on deeply held religious beliefs. This is what the Equality Act actually says:

‘‘The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.) SHALL NOT PROVIDE a CLAIM concerning, or A DEFENSE to a claim under, a covered title, or provide a basis for challenging the application or enforcement of a covered title.’’.

The Equality Act was skillfully and meticulously legally drafted to be weaponized against the Church. This is  its primary purpose.